Xinyuan Restaurant 新苑私房菜

Rm. 102, Bldg. 1, 508 Jiashan Lu,
Xuhui
near Jianguo West Road
徐汇区嘉善路508号1楼102室
近建国西路

6437-5017

Open 11:00am-12am
Price Y100-Y199 per couple

City Weekend says

Venture to this authentic Shanghainese restaurant that's remained relatively untouched by expatriates. They serve up all the usual local favorites, including stuffed duck and hongshao rou. English menus are available as well.

Contributor Description

The menu is completely Chinese and even the business card is void of English. And there isn’t even any pinyin in sight. So this Shanghai restaurant does not seem to make a particular effort to cater to expats. In fact, it seems to do everything it can to be local. But it’s precisely qualities such as a lack of pretention that allow this restaurant to focus on what’s really important, delicious Shanghainese food. But much to the delight of expats in this party, the preparation of the dishes seems careful, presentation thoughtful and surprisingly, the entire menu is MSG free. For those who are Chinese challenged, there are nice pictures on the menu that should help your decision. (And the dishes look just like the pictures, a rarity in terms of truth in advertisement.)

Bean curd mushroom roll (Doufupi Sujuan): This is an appetizer of boiled, lightly seasoned mushroom wrapped in crispy fried tofu skin. The beauty of this dish is in the contrast of the soft inside and the harder outside, and the contrasting color tones which really highlight the subtle tastes of the mushroom and the tofu skin.

Eight-Treasure Stuffed Duck (Babao Ya): This is a classic local dish that takes up to two hours to prepare. There is a dark reddish sauce dripping over a tender baked duck with soft skin. The pinkish meat falls off the bones as one serves with spoon. It’s not overly sweet like the Pork in Soy Sauce but tender, juicy and flavorful. The main seasoning is soy sauce which has never tasted so complex and exquisite. The stuffing is sticky rice with chestnut also sulked in light soy sauce and duck juice. The stuffed fowl sits in the middle of a large white platter about a foot and a half in diameter, garnished with steamed shitake mushrooms and carrots and surrounded by about a dozen small bunches of tender green bokchoy. One would need a large party to enjoy this dish and have room for others. And you have to call ahead to order. For Thanksgiving, I am considering substituting turkey, which costs an arm and a leg here and is less flavorful anyway, with this dish.

Chicken in Wine Sauce (Huadiao Ji): This is a free range chicken boiled in Huadiao wine sauce, served in a clay pot with ginger, onion and garlic. The chef gets the timing right on this dish so that the meat does not fall off the bones like chickens that have been through the pressure-cooker and the flavor is better preserved and much enhanced by the strong wine sauce. The waiter would remind you to not eat the sauce as water can be added to the left-over sauce to make a delicious chicken soup at no extra charge in about ten minutes. But between you and me, the wine sauce goes great with steamed rice.

Fish Head Soup (Yutoutang): This is also a local favorite. The dish is simply a large head of a fish boiled over small fire for hours until the soup is creamy white and (if you can imagine this) the fish meat literally melts on your tongue. An acquired taste for expats for sure but if you are a lover of local cuisine, this is to die for. Yes, this is the other dish on the menu for which you have to call ahead.

Pork in Soy Sauce (Hongshao Rou): This is a dish that one either loves or hates. To me, it’s a mysterious dish full of un-answered questions. Question #1: Since it’s so sweet, can it be considered a dessert item? Question #2: Since it’s so difficult to separate the lean meat from the fat, would it taste as good if I dipped lean pork in lard and sugar? Question #3: If the locals eat like this all the time, how come they are not all rotund like Americans? Not that Yours Truly would know the difference, but this place is supposed to serve the best Hongshao Rou in town.

If the dishes are subtle and complex, the ambience is not and like many local restaurants, the tables are too closely placed. And on a Friday night, service can be a little slow at noise levels that are, at times, distracting. But the waitresses are courteous and pleasant. Rumor had it that Li Ka-Shing ate in the main dining hall at a table a few feet and a few billion dollars away from where I sat.

This restaurant is not new but it's low key in the expat community. I would give this place 4.5 stars if it was an option.

Contributed by wang318i

1 year, 11 months ago